Nominations for next month’s featured stories are now open on the forums~ The theme shall be “impending doom,” appropriate for October. You can nominate over here!

And now for your monthly dose of things the mods would like you to know. New categories/characters can be requested in this thread on the forums. It’s a sticky under Information Desk, if you ever need to find it. Please try to limit your character lists to a maximum of 25, and character “groups” or “classes” don’t count as characters (for instance, the Heartless or Prinnies). They need to have a defined personality to be added. Also, please put things in the proper category! Anything that’s classified under Original Fiction should be your own work, not fanfiction of any sort. Pick the proper genres, such as “Fantasy” or “Romance,” and please do not add those stories under Original Fiction -> Romance if they aren’t, well, original fiction.

The last thing is a definition of what constitutes a valid submission, and thus is allowed on the archive. As a general rule, we don’t allow submissions that don’t contain any story content – that means tables of contents where the first chapter of story isn’t included, or character profiles, or challenges (which have their own separate section; use it, please!), or notes that you’ll write this chapter later, or first chapters that consist solely of author’s notes (though those are sometimes acceptable later in the story). Lists of updates, rants, and such can go on your profile. Diaries are not allowed either, unless they fall into the category of memoir, which are more a depiction of events in your past than, say, a summary of how you feel on a particular day. Please use your profile or an offsite journal for those.

If you have any questions, concerns, comments, complaints, or anything at all to say, productive or unproductive, feel free~

Comments

Thank you for the nomination, Prophet Lexicon.

Congratulations to everyone else who was featured.

- Kerrigan Sheehan on 09/02/11 - 12:57AM

choochooshoe, thanks an absolute ton for the nomination!

Also, congratulations to the other authors of this month's featured! Your stories are all on my to-read list!

- MidiMarch on 09/02/11 - 08:32AM

Not to be a killjoy or anything, but, uh, the heading is "Featured Stories for October" instead of September.

- UpsideDownFun on 09/02/11 - 10:58PM

...this is like the third time I've done that. Thanks.

- crazydominodragongirl on 09/03/11 - 12:25AM

I do want to make a few clarifications on the issue of story content:

1. If you want to write a fictional story in the form of a diary, that's fine, of course.

2. It's pretty rare that a chapter of just author's notes is OK. Status updates are NOT OK. This is more allowed for out-of-story content to explain things a bit more.

- Kerrigan Sheehan on 09/04/11 - 10:32PM

"Q: Do you allow single chapter author notes?
Answer: Yes. =) We encourage you to be prudent about where you put them, but otherwise we don't care."

^ If what Kerrigan Sheehan is saying is the new rule, the FAQ needs to be updated. It does say "as long as you're prudent..." but none the less the feeling from that statement vs. Kerrigan's is different. Also, unless I've missed it, there's nothing about status updates, either, though I'm a bit confused about what a "status update" is. Perhaps that could be clarified more? Just some suggestions.

- NyxHarlot on 09/06/11 - 09:21AM

@NyxHarlot - It's a very tiny minority that are doing this, but here is your clarification:

What I mean is that it really depends on the type of note it is. Some offer things related to the story itself, and some don't. Please use some discretion about submitting an author's note as a standalone chapter if it doesn't pertain directly to the story content and is very short; consider attaching it as a note to your next chapter instead.

A Quick Guide to Standalone Notes:

OK = notes about the story, a chapter answering reader's questions, translations for a large amount of non-English story content, out-of-story background information, etc. (These are things that might help with understanding or are particularly long or important notes. These can stand alone as a chapter.)

NOT OK = notes stating that you're going on a short hiatus because of a vacation, you won't post anything else until you get reviews, your last chapter hasn't been validated yet, you'll finish the rest of this chapter later, etc. (These belong on your profile or in an author's note attached to another chapter.)

Think about it from the perspective of a reader who gets an update to a favorite story only to tell them it won't be updated. Even though it's a tiny minority, these also cause a longer wait for those with stories in the queue and usually would also be deleted for one or more other reasons, such as a lack of capitalization and punctuation or excessive use of chat speak.

IT IS THE MOST APPROPRIATE "IMPENDING DOOM" ICON I HAVE. and maybe war. Shizuo is too much fun to make anigifs of. :3

- crazydominodragongirl on 09/08/11 - 01:57AM

Hi Mods,
Iv'e been curious for a while, but does Lunaescence allow for scripts/screenplays to be published on the site? Would that still be considered fan-fiction? I'm really not sure. Haha. Thanks in advance for any answers!

- Jemmers on 09/13/11 - 10:57AM

@Jemmers: We allow both fanfiction and original content here. You can post your script or screenplay under the Plays & Scripts category. :]

- Sharp Shiny Pickle on 09/13/11 - 11:02AM

Of course! I did peruse the different categories, but was not observant enough. =) Should have known there was a 'Plays & Scripts' category. Thank you Sharp Shiny Pickle.

- Jemmers on 09/13/11 - 11:40AM

@Jemmers - Also, you can post things under more than one category. For example, if you wrote a crossover or something that fit into more than one category, you could add more than one category in the categories box when submitting.

- Kerrigan Sheehan on 09/13/11 - 12:45PM

Thanks for the heads up, KS. I'll be sure to keep that in mind. =)

As for validating submissions, would different moderators 'specialise' (for a lack of a better word) in authorising these validations? So if I were to submit a script or essay, would someone more familiar with these types of works read/authorise them? I generally assume the moderators are pretty cool and can handle variouscategories and mediums, but the question popped up nevertheless! Thanks.

- Jemmers on 09/13/11 - 03:00PM

Generally everyone can handle everything, just that some might have some preferences in what they read (no lemons, no Naruto fic, etc., though that doesn't mean they won't go through those if they have the time). Pretty much we just choose what we feel like to read and handle it. :3

- crazydominodragongirl on 09/13/11 - 03:35PM

If you were wondering about script formatting, we're not very strict about whether it's Hollywood-approved script format or not. As long as the formatting makes sense so we can tell who's speaking, the format is fine.

The same goes for poetry. As long as the formatting doesn't cause confusion, it's fine.

- Kerrigan Sheehan on 09/13/11 - 05:41PM

DG, I blame you and your icon for my newfound fascination with DRRR. I'd never even been interested in it before, and now I've been pulled into it...

- Wanderer on 09/15/11 - 01:29PM

Quick thing; I edited something on my story "Live to Live" (the description, I think) and as expected, my little medal thing that said it was a past featured story disappeared. Could someone please put it back for me? Thanks!

- Prophet Lexicon on 09/27/11 - 02:34AM

Oh, and you're welcome for the nomination, Kerrigan. Honestly, you've written some of the greatest writing I've ever read (published authors included). You created your own world with Nevermore, and I really really want to know what happens next. (Your writing be awesome-tastic-ness. So yeah.)

- Prophet Lexicon on 09/27/11 - 02:37AM

@Prophet Lexicon: Fixed. :)

@Wanderer: HAHA VICTORY. 8D I hope you like it~ and you should really watch Baccano! too, it's sort of the prequel, in the same universe, and pretty much transcends awesome.

- crazydominodragongirl on 09/27/11 - 03:11AM

I may have to start watching that, 'cause I've run out of Durarara!!

Seriously. Even anni_fiesta's translations of the novels. And I miss it... T.T

- Wanderer on 09/27/11 - 03:34PM

@Prophet Lexicon - Awww! Thanks! Now I feel guilty, though, because I have a couple of chapters that just need some editing and one that needs typing and editing.